| A History of STRUM and the TOWN OF UNITY by Roy Matson |
| THIS IS PAGE 73 | TABLE OF CONTENTS | PAGE BACK | PAGE FORWARD |
| Main Street a dozen years ago. A herd of a hundred beef cattle were moved from a pasture area some half dozen miles south of town to a feed lot about ten miles north of Strum. The path of travel was County Trunk D through town and across the river bridge. News viewers on the NBC network around the United States saw a steaming herd of beef make their way down Main Street one cold winter afternoon. Harold Halverson, a local boy, handled the camera and former Strum residents were happy to see the old town had changed little. While discussing cattle on Main Street, how many now living remember the time Even Holte’s prize holstein 1 1/2 ton bull made his way to market. He was being led behind a wagon on the first leg of a Chicago journey and must have had a premonition of coming events. The old boy lay down on the main street railway crossing and all attempts to move him was futile until a small boy built a fire under his tail end! And who can forget Long Jim Maloney’s annual visits. He lived 10 miles south in Bruce Valley and raised thousands of sheep. The trek to market was most unusual. Jim practically lived with his sheep; they knew him and when he rang a small bell or pounded his tin pail they followed - up the Bruce Valley road, filling the right-of-way from fence to fence. A team and wagon followed to pick up stragglers. An early morning start usually had him ascending the Bruce Valley hill by noon. A short rest at the top and the route was down the bluff road to market (County Trunk D to Johnson Valley had yet to be laid). Jim rang the bell or pounded his tin pail, the woolies followed, always several carloads of them, filling the street for a whole block, all to be turned at Nysven's corner. A sight long remembered, but never recorded by camera. And of course, no one who viewed or helped Paul Moltzau deliver his annual hog crop can forget that uncommon scene. Paul farmed just north of town a mile or so and usually had 40-50 porkers ready for fall delivery. Most hog raisers hauled their shipments. Paul was a drover. He felt that hogs were intelligent animals and would walk the highway, such as it was in pre-auto days, with little guiding until they reached Main Street when three or four of his boys would recruit every willing urchin available for the last two blocks to Nysven’s hazard. Paul always followed in his buggy. An economical and practical trip to market, impossible without Paul’s ingenuity and Foster's promotion. However, activities on Main Street were not always confined to cattle movement although such events could create some odd situations. Entertainment was frequent. Back in pre-auto days at least one small circus plodded into town each year. Most all had an elephant of questionable age and health, a toothless lion snoozing the afternoon away in an iron bound |
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